McLaren needs to be performing at a high level: Red Bull boss

Christian Horner has stated that the history that McLaren share with F1 makes their recent performances all the more disappointing. The Red Bull boss was speaking to Motorsport.com.

“McLaren is a great team. It’s got huge history – it’s, I think the second most winning team in Formula 1 – so Formula 1 needs McLaren to be performing at a high level,” said Horner.

“They’ve obviously got their challenges at the moment, and obviously look in a bit of turmoil, but hopefully within time they’ll manage to address that.”

McLaren have been undergoing several changes recently. Their race director, Eric Boullier, resigned last month which led to speculation that he was sacked for their poor performances this season.

Two members of their technical crew, Tim Goss and Matt Morris, also left the team, which throws light on the instability within the management.

The mediocre performances continued despite a new engine with Renault starting this season. They spilt with Honda after a tumultuous 3-year period where they tarnished the legacy, as stated by the Red Bull deputy principal.

More crucially, their most prized asset, Fernando Alonso, announced that he would be leaving F1 at the end of the season, which means that they have lost a sharp brain who could help in developing their car.

However, McLaren boss, Zak Brown, has stated that they have some plans in mind for their future.

“We’re not done yet, both with bringing in talent, and our final structure,” said Brown. “We have a good sense of what we’re going to do, but that’s not something that we want to make public, we just want to put our head down, and get on with the job.”

The final structure is already taking shape with the appointments of sporting director, Gil de Ferran and performance director Andrea Stella. Toro Rosso’s James Key, is also being lined up for a transfer.